The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

In my room there were about 30 females and in my section 300. Among the
people in my room there were only 4 of us over 20. Among the 14 to 16 year
olds that I lived with, they all had to work…
They worked seven to eight hours a day sewing shirts or sewing plastic
decorations on clothing or producing plastic drinking straws…. If they
refused to work they were shouted at. Then they had to wash floors or clean
the house or hoe the garden for punishment until they agreed to go back to
their regular jobs. 236
Beatings and Ill-Treatment
Can Loc was a child when he was detained for five years in Youth Center No. 2. He told
Human Rights Watch:
I was beaten and put into a punishment room for fighting. The staff beat me
on the arm and back with a truncheon.… Then I went to the punishment room.
It was about 6 by 12 meters and when I was in there 41 others were too. It was
locked. There was no work and no school. We had no contact with other
detainees or relatives…. I was kept there for three months and seven days.
He added, “We are humans but they hit us so hard.” 237
No Separation from Adults
A number of former detainees reported that children were detained in the same cells are
adults. Tan Uyen, a man in his mid-20s released in 2009, was detained for four years at
Youth Center No. 2. He told Human Rights Watch:
In my room of approximately 30, we all slept on mats of the floor and there
were five or six boys ages 15, 16, and 17. 238
Con Cuong and Thai Hoa were both adults when detained. They also told Human Rights
Watch they were detained in the same room as children at Youth Center No. 2. 239
236 Human Rights Watch interview with Ba Che, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
237 Human Rights Watch interview with Can Loc, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
238 Human Rights Watch interview with Tan Uyen, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
239 Human Rights Watch interview with Con Cuong and Thai Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
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